#leadershiptruth – Other people’s sh*t will stick to you.

I once had a boss say to me: ‘Roberts, don’t surround yourself with idiots. Other people’s shit has a way of sticking to you.’ Not a very pleasant thought but I got his point. One of the ‘fun’ things about leadership is the fact that your reputation as a strong leader will come as a direct reflection of the people you choose to surround yourself with. If you are surrounded by smart, capable people you’re going to look like a superstar. If you’re surrounded by incapable, disengaged people, you’re going to look incompetent (or something like that). Once you get beyond a front line role, your ability to grow and manage a team becomes the thing that people start to talk about. As an individual contributor, your results are yours alone. As a manager, your people’s results are equally yours. So, if you are currently tolerating lower performance from people on your team, ask yourself ‘how is this supporting my own career ambitions?’